Unusual seed oils having significance for chemical synthesis, Crepis a
lpina, or with fatty acids which contain functional groups important i
n the preparation of plastics, Vernonia galamensis, were analyzed by a
new reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric
pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry technique. Using this
method, we have identified 16 triacylglycerols in the Crepis alpina oi
l and 18 triacylglycerols in Vernonia galamensis oil and showed greate
r sensitivity for detection of and improved identification of triacylg
lycerols compared to previous analyses using the techniques of reverse
d-phase and silver ion high performance liquid chromatography with a f
lame ionization detector.The most abundant Crepis alpina triacylglycer
ols were: linoleoydicrepenynoyglycerol (33.0%), tricrepenynoyl (32.3%)
, palmitoyldicrepenynoyl (11.5%), dilinoleoylcrepenynoyl (6.7%) glycer
ols. The remaining triacylglycerols occurred at five or less mole perc
ent abundance. The most abundant Vernonia galamensis triacylglycerols
were: trivernoloyl (43.3%), linoleoyldivernoloyl (21.3%), oleoyldivern
oloyl (7.9%), palmitoyldivernoloyl (8.2%) and stearoyldivernoloyl (6.4
%) glycerols. The remaining triacylglycerols occurred at four or less
mole percent abundance. These studies provided new knowledge concernin
g the triacylglycerol composition of these oils and show that the atmo
spheric pressure chemical ionization technique is suitable for mass sp
ectral identification of neutral molecules which do not contain a char
geable functional group.